The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy" and Jeremy Rifkin's "The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quickly Eclipsing the American Dream."

Reid and Rifkin, both Americans, seemed not at all dismayed by the declinist thesis implied in their titles. In fact, their message was that the good guys were winning. Rifkin, for instance, argued that the Europeans, through "connectivity," had come up with an alternative to American individualism that was better suited for 21st century challenges.

And Europeans knew how to relax. In a Washington Post Op-Ed, Rifkin said, "The European Dream understands the value of leisure and even idleness."

Euro-envy was still going strong in 2008, when America elected a president who was so in sync with Europeans that they gave him a Nobel Peace Prize just for winning office. That was just before the roof caved in on the global economy.